On June 4, 2023, the CSC will host what we believe will be the first ever conference of Israeli Syriac scholars. The Syriac heritage and language lies at the heart of the research of scholars in a large range of disciplines at universities across Israel. Whether it be in patristic scholarship, Syriac poetry, Jewish-Christian relations, Christian-Muslim relations, Syriac mysticism and asceticism, manuscript studies, Aramaic dialectology, or the Syriac Christian experience in the Holy Land, Israeli scholars, and international scholars working at Israeli universities or in close collaboration with Israeli scholars, stand at the forefront of Syriac studies worldwide. Alongside the many individual contributions to Syriac studies, Israeli Syriacists of the past and the present have produced research tools that are regularly used by every Syriac scholar. Examples that come to mind are Moshe Goshen-Gottstein’s catalogue of Syriac manuscripts at the Harvard Library, Michael Sokoloff’s Syriac Lexicon, and our very own Sergey Minov’s Comprehensive Bibliography of Syriac Studies. Given the prominent place Syriac studies hold on the map of Israeli humanities research, we have decided to hold a conference that will bring together many of our leading Syriac scholars to share current research and exchange ideas. We will also take the opportunity to honor Hebrew University’s longtime Syriac instructor, Mr. Shraga Assif, who has taught generations of students, including many of the participants in the conference.

The conference is co-organized by the CSC’s 2022-2023 postdoctoral fellows, Dr. Valentina Duca and Dr. Eva Rodridgo Gomez, together with CSC director, Dr. Yonatan Moss.